You're currently viewing:
Special features
The role of European foundations in the Arab region
Poonam Joshi and James Logan talk about Sigrid Rausing Trust’s and Oak Foundation’s involvement in the Arab region prior to the Arab Spring and how recent events have affected their approach, while Massimo Lanza of …
Civil society holds key to future of Arab Spring states
Although the uprisings that shook regimes across the Arab region were spontaneous, reflecting a breaking point in people’s tolerance of the system, organized civil society now has a crucial role to play in ensuring that …
Oiling the springs of democracy
Natural resources provide the greatest potential for financing development in some of the world’s poorest countries, far outweighing other sources of funding. In 2008, for example, the value of exports of oil and minerals for …
The hope of Arab Africa – a perspective from the South
The uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East have taken the world by storm, if not by surprise. Palestine and Lebanon have always lived out their volatility in the open, but the long-term governments …
Approach analogies with caution
When confronted with startling political events, we naturally grasp at ways to make sense of them. Historical analogies promise to demystify a disorienting present through insights from the past. As political change roiled the Arab …
The Israeli summer: camping for justice
This past summer hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets demanding social justice. While the Palestinian citizens of Israel were minimally present, and issues related to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and …
Interview – Dmitry Zimin
‘There is a logical sequence of events in human life: you go to school, you marry, you divorce… Then maybe the time comes to retire from business and start philanthropy.’ The Gates Foundation and Giving …
Interview – Rogier van Vliet
‘Malaria is an area of interest for me, but with the Gates Foundation taking on this issue, along with the Global Fund, our added value becomes marginal.’ The Adessium Foundation, set up in 2005 by …
Gates in Europe
European foundations have very different traditions from their US counterparts, and attitudes to wealth and philanthropy are very different on either side of the Atlantic. So what influence has the Gates Foundation, with its vast …
Inspiring, offputting or irrelevant? How do other donors see the Gates Foundation?
The Gateses ‘are helping to set a cultural expectation that to be wealthy is to be engaged in philanthropy that makes a difference’. So, at least, thinks a US observer and donor adviser, Sean Stannard-Stockton …